Expressions are given for the stress intensity factors for centre and edge cracks in plates subject to an arbitrary stress. The stress intensity factors for cracks subject to a stress expressed in the form of a polynomial of order 8 are given and their application to cracks in service components are indicated. The results are in good agreement with known solutions. Expressions for the crack profiles of centre and edge cracks subject to arbitrary stress are constructed. They predict profiles in good agreement with the results of a finite element stress analysis.